Making every American a Volunteer.

Have you heard of the ‘GIVE Act’? It’s President Obama’s Mandatory Volunteerism Plan which expands the federal Americorps program. Some say it intends to simply create more democrat party foot soldiers in the socialist Saul Alinsky mode. Read more about it below, see photos, and watch a video.




Hitler Youth Parade

Obama’s Mandatory Volunteerism Plan?





The concept of the ‘Give Act’ also sometimes called the ‘Serve America Act’ is to make every American a volunteer. The technical name of this $6 Billion dollar boondoggle is the ‘Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act’ and you can read the bill here.

Both chambers of Congress have now quietly advanced Obama’s Mandatory Volunteerism Plan. This piece of legislation is really just a long list of amendments to existing laws that make it almost impossible to understand. Seriously. Go try to read it for yourself. There is little mention of volunteerism or education but there is a lot of ‘make-work’ language – doing exactly what as a ‘volunteer’ or even how this is ‘volunteerism’ is still not clear.

There is also a lot of debate over the intentions of this bill, and whether it is as sinister as some would make it out to be. The ‘mandatory volunteerism’ language has actually been stripped out of the bill (at least for now) but a new, separate bill containing that language has since been introduced in the House. And it seems to me that a bloated and still growing federal bureaucracy coupled with the politicization of civic groups like Americorps to partisan ends is still very worrisome.

Is this the beginnings of a Civilian National Security Force as The One promised during the campaign? I don’t know. But what I do know is that democrats think the answer to getting everything done is through government programs. Everything Obama has done in his 66 days in office has been to tighten the liberties of Americans not loosen them. Based on that alone, I must be at the very least, concerned and watchful.

It also seems to me that Obama’s Mandatory Volunteerism Plan is a lot of feel-good rhetoric with creepy authoritarianism undercurrents. Sound familiar? Yep, there’s a huge creep/authoritarianism factor surrounding this administration.

Before Obama’s 4 yr term is done, government’s bloated and greedy fingers will have touched almost everything in our lives from healthcare to charitable giving and volunteerism; from increased taxes to owning banking institutions.

I’m reminded of when Michelle Obama said on the campaign trail, ‘Barack will never let you go back to your lives as usual….‘ She really meant it didn’t she? Obama’s Volunteer Plan might be fine for some but I kind of like my ‘life as usual’. What about Americans’ freedom to be uninvolved and uninformed complete with the right to do something or not?
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Update 4/21/09: Barack Obama has signed a $5.7 billion national service bill expanding Americorps which is the Obama Volunteer Plan for the nation. They have changed the name of the bill from The Give Act to The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.

And because he is a man who likes to spend your money, Obama is already seeking $1.1 billion to fund it next year!

More photos and a video from Obama’s Mandatory Volunteerism Plan are below.

Hitler Youth ParadeHitler Youth 1Hitler Youth 2Hitler Youth 3Hitler Youth Parade 2
Obama’s Mandatory Volunteerism Plan? Photos





Obama’s Mandatory Volunteerism Plan Video